In the inaugural mythic matchup, I pit a couple of mythics on a lot of people's minds - specifically, the monowhite ones from each of the two most recent sets - against one another to see which would prevail. It was a close matchup, but at the end of the day, Angel of Serenity beat out Gideon, Champion of Justice. It was a sad day for planeswalkers, and a loss that, since planeswalkers are usually the flagship mythics of their set, upset the order of things. Moving on to the next color in line, blue, for the same sets, it may be time for another planeswalker to set things right. In this block so far, the monoblue mythics are another planeswalker, a harried mind-mage; and the draw spell to end all draw spells. Which will reign supreme? Let's find out:
Return to Ravnica: Jace, Architect of Thought
This might not be Jace's straight-up most powerful version, but it's easily his most versatile. His +1-loyalty ability makes attacking very unpleasant for fast aggro decks. His -2-loyalty is full of options in and of itself, and, appropriately for a planeswalker specializing in thought-manipulation magic, opens the possibilities of intriguing mind games. His -8 ultimate allows you to have any way to win you so choose, pulling a finisher from everybody's library. All in all, Jace just feels smart. He enables you to make significant choices and feel good about using him to set in motion a particular strategy by activating his abilities in a certain way. He plays in a very nonlinear way, and has an answer for every situation. Plus, since he starts at 4 loyalty, his ultimate isn't terribly hard to get to, especially since his +1-loyalty makes him harder to damage. There's never going to be a time when you say "I wish I weren't holding this guy," really. Practically the only thing you can say against him is that he's not Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and it's hardly a fair criticism to say he's not as strong as an abjectly broken card. Also, his new title - Architect of Thought - is suitably majestic.
Gatecrash: Enter the Infinite
Let's get this out of the way so it's not weighing on any of us: Enter the Infinite is nigh-to-uncastable. Twelve mana is an insane sum to begin with, the sort of thing only dedicated ramp decks can get out consistently, and this is incredibly color-intense in blue, a color not traditionally known for being able to accelerate its mana well, to say the least. This was consciously designed by R&D to be almost completely EDH fodder. But that's no knock against this. If you can pull this off, it will be so, so worth it. Because its text begins with "Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your library..." Because it allows you to have a why-can't-I-hold-all-these-cards moment when you actually fan out your entire deck between your hands. Because it's a guaranteed win if you can survive until your next turn. They should have sent a poet.
Now to the points of comparison:
Flavor: Jace has his psychic schtick, which he does reasonably well, but is hasn't really changed since he first appeared. Meanwhile, Enter the Infinite allows you to know everything. Sorry, Jace, but Enter is the out-and-out winner.
Abilities: Jace, as previously mentioned, is an utter do-everything Jace-of-all-trades in this version of him. Enter the Infinite gives you the capacity to do everything in your library, assuming you can cast it. Jace gets the edge for flexibility and the fact that his ultimate can get you your Enter the Infinite in the first place.
Overall Appeal: As maligned as Jace is by some players, he's still an iconic and generally well-liked characters. Meanwhile, only Timmy-Johnnies and Commander fanatics have any special love for Enter the Infinite. Jace is the winner here.
Final Victor: Jace, Architect of Thought
Want to dispute the outcome or suggest the next pairing? Let me know in the comments!
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